I am torn between Short Scale and Regular Scale

[Eric Ryan]

I'm 6'4" with proportionately large hands, but much prefer short scale. In fact I regularly play a 25" scale bass, though I do feel kinda cramped in the upper frets. Nothing wrong with 30" scale, your friend can do whatever he wants, but you do what's right for you.

Agreed! I'm 6'5" & have hands that can reach just about anything. My comment is about my picking/plucking hand though; I've had several fine instruments that have a 19mm string spacing, & for the life of me, I hate them. I've switched almost exclusively to 18mm or narrower.

Buy what works for you!

 

[WestyBassBob]

So true! OP, if you'd posted this a decade ago, the whole thread would be about how you should man up and learn how to play standard scale. It was brutal, and thankfully things have changed. I fell in love with Ibanez Mikros and that's what I play. My bandmates call them toys, but they know my sound is as good as anyone else's, and NOBODY ELSE KNOWS OR EVEN CARES.

Edit: PS: There is a sense of freedom playing a cheap bass. You're not afraid to just live and let live. I've dropped my basses so many times and don't even give a rat's toenail about it.

Try just a few years ago. I remember feeling exactly the same way as you described. Now it’s all old players singing the praises of switching to shortscale.

 

[fdeck]

I play mostly upright, and I play with 1-2-4 fingering, so you'd think I should be a candidate for a long scale bass. But the twisted hand position is awkward. Moving my left hand closer to my body is a lot more comfortable, especially by the end of a long gig. Among my electric basses, I've reverted to playing my 30" Fender Mustang exclusively. It's just a whole lot more comfortable. As for the sound, I think strings have come a long way since when I got the bass in 1977, and so you have to judge by how you can make it sound now, with modern strings.

Nobody in the band knows the difference, or has even heard that there are different sizes.

 

[mambo4]

you'd think I should be a candidate for a long scale bass. But the twisted hand position is awkward. Moving my left hand closer to my body is a lot more comfortable, especially by the end of a long gig.

If you play with your bass guitar in your lap (or strapped up high) with the neck shooting out horizontally
The for sure the left wrist angle will be compromised. Angling the neck of the bass upward 45 degrees or more will move the left hand closer to your body ( see my avatar pic.) At least that's what I have found. But go with what works for you!

 

[micguy]

Make sure you play the short scale you’re interested in before buying it. A lot of short scale basses have the bridge moved away from the edge of the body. In your case you’re looking at a headless, which means the same thing - the active part of the strings is shifted away from the butt end of the body. In either case, that shift means that the reach to the first fret is longer than it would be otherwise - a short scale like that often isn’t much shorter reach wise than a full scale.

 

[tshapiro]

I play a number of full size basses live, but, I mostly practice on this Ibanez Gio bass which I absolutely love! I find:
1) All the brain work that I do while practicing translates to a full size bass
2) Built up muscle memory also translates the the full size bass
Sooooo… play whatever size bass you want, it doesn’t much matter unless you are trying to build muscle memory on some very technical material.

 

[Wannabebass]

I also play a mikro (28.5” scale). One downside is that I was asked if I wanted to play my buddies 34”scale bass one night. I put it on but immediately put it down cause it felt so foreign and I didn’t want to constantly be stressing about how to play the thing during our session. I can see the value in being comfortable on a 34” if you want to be able to sit in or play any bass that’s handed to you.